If anyone knows cars, it’s Bill Whetstone. If anyone knows Detroit Autorama, it’s Bill Whetstone — he has been involved with the show since 1958.

Whetstone, 79, moved to Detroit at the age of 10 and soon became interested in cars. He calls it “the Motor City effect.” His love affair continues at Autorama this year, the annual custom car show that is Friday-Sunday at Cobo Center.

“At the age of 10, I would go to the local drug store and stock up on car magazines,” said Whetstone. “As I got a little older, I would ride my bike to Gratiot Auto Supply to see all the cool custom cars being built.”

Whetstone said he would talk to a boy nicknamed Junior at the shop. They are still friends today — more than 60 years later.

“If it hadn’t been for Junior, I would have never been as obsessed with cars as I have been through the years,” said Whetstone.

In 1958, Mike and Larry Alexander opened a custom car shop in Detroit.

Two years after the Alexander brothers opened up shop, Whetstone took his 17.5-foot-long cherry red 1960 Ford Starliner to them for a full-blown remodel. They named the car “Adonis,” for the Greek mythological figure of great beauty.

Whetstone entered the car in the Detroit Autorama for the first time in 1961 and re-entered it in 1962 and 1963 with different modifications.

Adonis began to gain a great deal of attention. According to Whetstone, 12 magazines published stories about the custom ride. Car Craft Magazine named Adonis the best designed Ford of the year in 1961.

A 1960 Ford Starliner named Adonis, a clone of the original, in front of in the garage owned by Bill Whetstone in New Haven. (Photo: Chris Herod)

In 1963, Whetstone sold the car and took a break from custom car making until the late 1980s. That’s when his son came home from school and asked Whetstone if he was interested in building a car as a father-son project.

“It was like giving drugs to an addict who had quit years ago,” said Whetstone. “I was addicted again.”

Whetstone and his son worked on dozens of cars together. Whetstone added that since 1988, he has owned and worked on 75 cars.

He has also passed the tradition of custom car building to his grandson, Chris Herod, who has been going to the Detroit Autorama since he was 5.

At the age of 14, Whetstone bought Herod a 1960 Ford Starliner, the same model as the Adonis. Herod customized it the way he wanted to and still has it to this day.

“It is one of my most prized possessions,” said Herod.

The Adonis was cloned by a man in Minnesota, as the original is no longer in existence. Whetstone purchased the duplicate in April 2017 and will be entering it in this year’s Autorama.

“Aside from my wedding day and the birth of my kids, bringing the Adonis clone home was the most special day of my life,” said Herod.

The Detroit show is Autorama’s largest and oldest, according to Lynn Burbary, executive vice president of Championship Auto Shows, the company that presents Autorama.

There are Autorama shows across the United States and Canada; however, Burbary said several things make the Detroit Autorama unique.

“People here are so passionate about their cars,” said Burbary. “Additionally, Detroit is also the only place where the Ridler Award is bestowed.”

Vehicles competing for the Ridler Award must be making their first public showing at the Detroit Autorama. The winner is decided by a group of judges. A cash prize of $10,000 and a trophy are given to the recipient.

Some 175,000 people are expected to attend the Detroit Autorama this year, according to Championship Auto Show Owner Pete Toundas.

To open the event, at 11:45 a.m. on Friday, there will be a live outdoor "Rolling Towering Inferno Flame Throwing Fest" in front of the Cobo Center. This is where two cars and a truck will shoot flames 200 feet in the air.